SC quashes MediaOne telecast ban, says criticism not anti-establishment

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Criticism of governmental policy cannot be termed “anti-establishment”, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday while quashing the Centre’s telecast ban on Malayalam news channel MediaOne and pulling up the home ministry for raising national security claims from “thin air” without facts.

Observing that the State can’t impose unreasonable restrictions on the press as it will have a chilling effect on press freedom, a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud set aside the Kerala high court order which had upheld the Centre’s decision to ban the telecast on security grounds. The top court pronounced its judgment on a plea by the news channel.

The high court had relied on material which was disclosed solely to the court in a sealed cover by the Union ministry of home affairs and said the MHA decision to deny security clearance was based on intelligence inputs received from various agencies.  In a judgment spanning 134-pages, the SC said the Union of India has raised the claim of national security in a “cavalier manner” and the report of the Intelligence Bureau is purely an inference drawn from information that is already in the public domain.